Can We Solve the Climate Crisis If We Don't Solve the Democracy Crisis?

After President Obama's nearly 4-year silence on the dangers of climate change during his first term, Obama spoke out forcefully in his Second Inaugural Address:

"We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and our future. Some may deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms."

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Given the domination of our political system by big money -- particularly from the energy industry -- in this post-Citizens United world, the question is whether it will be possible for the U.S. government to take the large-scale political actions that are necessary to address climate change, or whether the most that the money-driven political system will permit are small, marginal changes.

In the words of Al Gore, climate change guru and the "former next President of the United States,"

"In order to solve the climate crisis, we need to solve the democracy crisis. And we have one... As important as it is the change the light bulbs, we have to change the laws."